Someone recently made the claim that subjecting clipless pedals to the rigors of commuting would make them harder to unclip as time went by.

I don't think this is true and it's never happened to me despite that I even ride all winter, but from looking at pics it looks like the spring is actually exposed to the elements, so I'm curious -

Has anyone found their "mountain", 2 hole clipless pedals became harder to unclip or you couldn't clip out apparently because of age or because they got dirty?

Situations I'm trying to avoid with my question -
1. "Road", 3 hole cleats
2. Not being able to unclip because of being unfamiliar with the pedals, as well as never quite being able to clip/out comfortably. I'm specifically asking about wear, tear, and/or age causing it to happen

Responses like "I've been riding x years through snow and dirt and it's never happened" would also be welcome.

I'd appreciate it if you could mention your pedal system - Shimano spd's, Time Atac, Crank Brothers, etc.

Thanks.

EDIT: I forgot to mention - let's assume that once you install them you never clean or lube them after that, like commuters such as myself would do.

I've been riding the same pair of Shimano SPDs with the same shoes/cleats for the past four years on my mountain bike through mud, dirt, grit, sand and water. Not commuting and not daily, but much dirtier and much more demanding terrain.

If anything, they're too loose.

I've got Shimano A520s on my commuter, M520s on my MTB, M520s on my wife's road bike and M520s on her MTB. A couple of the sets have thousands of miles on them. I regularly clean and lube them and have yet to have an issue with entry/exit nor have I needed to replace any of the cleats yet.

Thanks for your reply - I've updated my post to specify that I'm looking more for responses from people who don't really clean or lubricate their cleats as I think that's pretty common (I don't do that stuff on mine, I'm to lazy).

Most I do after a dirty mountain bike ride is hit them with the hose. I've lubricated them a few times, but I honestly don't remember the last time I did. Mind, this isn't my commuter bike... I have yet to get clipless on that. Once I upgrade my mountain bike's pedals I plan on putting the 4 year old pedals on my commuter.

Hope that helps

Appreciate your feedback, thanks. :-)

crank brothers for 1500+ miles... get easier to unclip because cleats wear out.
Walked through mud, dirt, sand fairly often. Never rinse them unless a lot sticks... usually it sheds right off the pedals.

I've got forte campus pedals with included cleats on Specialized Tahoe MTB shoes. At the two year mark, they had become noticeably harder to get clipped out. They were even worse on my weekend road bike, to the point I almost couldn't dismount. I changed the cleats without changing the pedals and all is fine again. I should have kept the old cleats for photo comparison. They were noticeably worn compared to the new replacements.

Oh, I haven't ever cleaned or lubricated either the pedals or cleats. If they get caked on mud, i clean them with a stick enough to make them clipable again.

With use they get *easier* to unclip, and eventually they will start unclipping by accident.
The rear edge of the cleat gets rounded off.

3 years on Time ATACs without so much as a hiccup. ABSOLUTELY flawless.

3 years of commuting on my CrankBrothers Candy C pedals and 2 year of mountain biking on my XC mtn bike. No cleaning or lubricating whatsoever performed except when they were brand new and I placed a couple of drops of oil on the springs. I'm not even sure it needed them back then.
Clipping in and out was difficult when the cleats were new on both bikes. But as the cleats wore out clipping in and out became smoother and much easier.

The only pedals I've ever had trouble clipping out of were my Zero's when I stepped on some dirt and loose gravel.

I bought a pair of Time Atac Aliums in 2001.

I've commuted on them 365 pretty much ever since so that's a lot of in and out due to traffic, although I taught myself to trackstand in them last year so now I stay clipped in more of my commute. I've never had any problems with road filth or salt in the winter and every morning when I jump on the bike they make that nice snick, snick clipping in.
They're still working perfectly just like when they were new and the last time I gave them any maintenance was, uh ... hmmm I've dont think I've ever cleaned them . They maybe got powerwashed once when my commuter and mountain bike were one and the same. The general consensus is that the Time Atac Alium is to all extents indestructible. I've seen one picture of some dead ones here but the guy looks like he beat the sweet jebus out of them.

I bought my SPDs about 10 years ago, the cheapest of them all back then and honestly, I don't have any problem unclipping. Actually now it feels so natural and easy that I don't know what I'll do when I'll change them :-) I want to change the shoes for well, obvious reasons and want to buy new pedals also but I'm really reconsidering every time because well, I have no problem whatsoever. The pedals have been on 2 bikes and I changed the position of the cleats a couple of times (and had to clean them at that time :-)) but other than that I don't touch them/clean them at all. I lubed the pedals once of twice while thoroughly cleaning the bike but that's it.

That's 10 years of mild biking (I'm not a hardcore commuter).

Two years on Time ATACs. Never cleaned them. Mud all the time. Never a problem.

Speedplay X2 (road), walked across 2m of dry earth. Clogged. Stick with the mountain pedals.

Eggbeaters get easier to unclip as the brass cleat wears. My cleats rusted into my shoes and I have not yet bothered to drill them out yet because, although it seems I can unclip just by thinking about it, I have never unclipped accidentally. (I am sure that I would unclip accidentally if I went mountain biking with them.)

Opposite experience than I had. Maybe it is a combination of rider size/weight/style that determines the effect.

I wonder if the "Forte" brand spd-clone pedals are somehow designed differently than the actual Shimano spd pedals...

Haven't tried the Forte but have used several other Shimano clones and gave up on them. Never found one that was as well made and functioned equally to the Shimano counterpart.

Anyone else? (bump)

I used to have some of the lower end Shimanos MTB pedals - maybe 15 years ago? With the right (i.e. wrong) kind of dirt / crud, they became almost impossible to get out of. I tried the higher end Shimano, worked OK but the price was crazy.

I think Crank Bros was fairly new and I tried them -- no difference clean or muddy but I wasn't too keen on them initially, I think it may have been a bad match with the shoe. I went back to them a year or two later for some reason, loved them, and haven't ridden much else since.

The Crank Bros cleats are pretty soft brass, do wear out relatively fast, but I think that makes them easier to get out of.

Do you know if the original pedals were actual "Shimano" pedals, not a clone brand like Forte?

Time ATAC here. They are self cleaning (inserting the cleat actually cleans out the retention mechanism). I have had zero problems & use them on my daily commute. Once the cleat wears down you will have trouble clipping in and/or staying clipped in. However, you will not get 'stuck' in the pedal. A simple twist of your foot will clean the mechanism and pop your foot free. I have also tried Shimano 540 and the Time requires significantly less force to disengage the mechanism (ideal for commutes where you will probably be unclipping a lot). Before you ask, no, I haven't had any accidental "unclippings". Time has a new line of pedals this year meant for commuting / touring / rando... they may be worth checking out. If they look dicey then stick with the Time Aliums or Z platforms (other Time MTB pedals are great but $$$).

Some people encounter problems with 2-hole cleat systems when they do not property tighten the cleat screws into the shoe. At the correct torque looseness (or becoming loose) is not an issue.

Absolutely they were Shimano. Not some SPD knock off. It was sticky gritty mud that did them in. Worked OK when clean.

BTW, I have had to replace Crank Bros cleats though it was after long use. They just get sloppy and unpredictable, though not "harder to get out of" per se.

PS seeing Greg_R's post above jarred neurons -- they may have been 520s. I remember looking at a couple of tiers higher - 540 and maybe 570 or 590 at a big price premium. That's when I dumped Shimano pedals.